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Jan 10, 2015

Rod and Al Stewart: Coming Out in the Year of the Cat

Over thirty years ago, I was struggling to "figure
it out" in the Year of the Cat, and my quest was illustrated by the songs of
Rod/Al Stewart. &nbsp;I couldn't turn on the radio without hearing his wheezy,
gravelly voice wailing out a ballad with a story attached. And the stories were always about coming out. I didn't find out until researching this post that
they were two different people. It's still hard to tell them apart. &nbsp;Both
British, born in 1945, both with that androgynous 1970s look. When you do a google image search, you get more
shirtless and swimsuit clad photos of Rod. For Al, all you get are a lot of photos that the
search engine insists are him, but aren't. &nbsp;Like this one. Al's songs were easier to find a gay subtext in.
"On the Border": About a revolution
in your mind.. "Time Passages":
The years are slipping by, and you're not finding it. "Year of the Cat": In a Latin American
country, you meet a girl whose dress is running in the rain. &nbsp;She brings
you to a hidden door. You go inside, spend the night, and realize that you've lost
your ticket, so you're going to stay awhile. I guess
it's supposed to be about a romantic interlude, but I found it rather sinister.
&nbsp;The girl is using some kind of black magic to keep you trapped in
a heterosexual prison. "Broadway Hotel" You told the man in
the Broadway Hotel Nothing was stranger than being yourself And he replied, with
a tear in his eye Love was a rollaway. You tried finding love everywhere, and then you
met the man in the Broadway hotel. Most of
Rod's songs were aggressively about girls! girls! girls! &nbsp;So it took
a little tweaking to make them about being gay. "Tonight's the Night." You draw the shades,
pour the wine, and prepare to have sex with a virgin girl, because "tonight's
the night." &nbsp;But drop the "girl," and you're preparing
to have sex with a man. "You're in my
Heart": You're an essay in glamour -- please pardon the grammar, but you're
every schoolboy's dream. Ok, well, I'm pretty
sure that Shaun Cassidy was every schoolboy's dream. "I
Was Only Joking": Rod and his friends were Valentinos, and broke some hearts,
without specifying who those hearts belonged to. And one that never got air time -- at least, I
never heard it, was about a gay guy. "The
Killing of Georgie": His friend George was killed in a homophobic hate crime.
&nbsp;It actually uses the word "gay," a rarity in 1977. See also:
Subtext Songs of the 1980s; The Eagles;&nbsp;and Kissing Boys to the BeeGees.